A couple of things came together the past two weeks – a press release about a new report that ALEC sent your ALEC legislator – to get them to deregulate mining – and a story about the disaster that was caused by uranium mining that was documented on Common Dreams.
Always look at coincidences
like that as the universes way of telling me I need to put something up on the
blog.
First the right-wing nasty side of the story:
ALECReleases "Dig It! Rare Earth and Uranium Mining Potential in the
States"
In-depth
report details the economic impact of mineral resource development
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Legislative Exchange
Council (ALEC) has released a report exploring the strategic and economic importance
of mineral resource development to the United States. Dig It! Rare Earth
and Uranium Mining Potential in the States details rare earth and uranium
mining reserves and production, reviews permitting and regulatory hurdles,
estimates the economic benefit of developing reserves, and highlights the
safety and environmental track record of mining.
"reviews permitting and
regulatory hurdles" – DEREGULATION
"estimates the economic
benefit of developing reserves," - ESTIMATES – they don’t know for sure it's another ALEC experiment
"highlights the safety and
environmental track record" – which is a misnomer - because there is VERY FEW safety and environmental track record highlights - based on real life
stories that have been published.
If
permitting processes are rationalized and rare earth and uranium resources
become fully developed in the states, thousands of direct mining jobs could be
created.
At what cost to the
environment, the commons and the public?
And Heartland had to chime inalso – which appears to be a plagiarism of a piece that was on ALEC’s blog.
An
industry with great potential for job creation and economic revitalization
remains largely untapped with overly onerous regulatory burdens, unsurprisingly,
being the primary roadblock.
De-Regulation – the focus of
the second paragraph of the Heartland summary
The
initial regulatory hurdle that must be overcome is obtaining the necessary
permits and approvals required for building a mine.
And there is probably a very
good reason for this!!!
In
some instances, states have even gone beyond mere regulations and have imposed
outright bans on certain types of mining.
In Virginia,
for example, there is currently a moratorium on uranium mining.
And there is probably a very
good reason for this!!!
Research
suggests that by implementing a de facto ban on uranium mining, Virginia is missing out
on $7 billion worth of economic development, an increase in person-year
employment by 1,900 per year, and $500 million of tax revenue.
Look out Virginia!!!
Today,
uranium mining exists in Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and in a
handful of other states in the west.
These states are friendly to the mining industry by having reasonable
regulations that have successfully prevented any major environmental problems
from arising.
Well – DAMN – let’s take a
look at some stories about those states in the “West”!!!!
From Common Dreams – a very
detailed examination of what can go drastically wrong with uranium mining.
Here are a few snips to get
you interested.
Published on Wednesday,
December 26, 2012 by ProPublica
by Abrahm Lustgarten
GILLETTE, Wyo. —
Christensen
has made ends meet by allowing prospectors to tap into minerals and oil and gas
beneath his bucolic hills. But from the start, it has been a Faustian bargain.
As
dry as this land may be, underground, vast reservoirs hold billions of gallons
of water suitable for drinking, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. Yet every day injection wells pump more than 200,000 gallons of toxic
and radioactive waste from uranium mining into Christensen's aquifers.
What
is happening in this remote corner of Wyoming
affects few people other than Christensen — at least for now.
But
a roiling conflict between state and federal regulators over whether to allow
more mining at Christensen Ranch — and the damage that comes with it — has
pitted the feverish drive for domestic energy against the need to protect water
resources for the future.
Hmmmmmmmm
Didn’t we just read something
similar to this – except it was through the rose colored corporate glasses
version that is proposed by ALEC’s new report they sent to ALEC legislators?
Twenty-five
years ago, the EPA and Wyoming
officials agreed that polluting the water beneath Christensen Ranch was an
acceptable price for producing energy there.
The
Safe Drinking Water Act forbids injecting industrial waste into or above
drinking water aquifers, but the EPA issued what are called aquifer exemptions
that gave mine operators at the ranch permission to ignore the law. Over the
last three decades, the agency has issued more than 1,500 such exemptions
nationwide, allowing energy and mining companies to pollute portions of at
least 100 drinking water aquifers.
The results of DEREGULATION
Federal
regulators also have become less certain that it is possible to clean up
contamination from uranium mining. At Christensen Ranch and elsewhere, efforts
to cleanse radioactive pollutants from drinking water aquifers near the surface
have failed and uranium and its byproducts have sometimes migrated beyond
containment zones, records show.
FAILED – efforts to cleanse
pollutants have FAILED.
In
1982, when Wyoming officials anticipated the
need for an aquifer exemption at Christensen Ranch, the state's then-governor,
Ed Herschler, wrote to urge EPA officials to streamline their review of such requests
and not to delay energy projects or interfere with Wyoming regulators. Steven Durham, the EPA's
regional administrator at the time, wrote back to assure the governor the EPA
would not second guess state officials, and that he had adjusted the rules so
that they "should assure a speedy finalization of any exemptions."
Streamline the procedures –
hurry up – don’t take the time to do it right.
Turn it over to the states –
let them decide – the ALEC policy – what ALEC is saying needs to be done in the
new report they sent out to ALEC legislators.
Still,
Christensen, who continued to run stock on his land, saw the pollution as an
inconvenience, not a threat. He was assured that the mine operator could steer
contaminants toward the center of the exemption zone by manipulating pressure
underground.
"That
was our best quality water," Christensen said. "I've been given to
believe that it is not sacrificed, that they will restore the groundwater
quality."
When are people going to
learn that CORPORATIONS LIE FOR PROFIT!!!
In
July 2004, contaminants were detected in one of the monitoring wells
surrounding the mining facility at Christensen Ranch.
But
according to documents from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality,
Cogema — the company then handling the restoration effort — could not fix the
problem or identify its cause. The company tested water from the area and
examined their injection wells for defects, but told state officials they
believed the contaminants had occurred naturally and were not from the mine.
For
six years, the contaminants continued to spread, disappearing for short periods
as the restoration progressed only to reappear again, records show.
"This
really shouldn't happen," said Glenn Mooney, a senior state geologist who
oversaw the Christensen Ranch site for Wyoming
from the late 1970s until last July.
No it shouldn’t – but it did
and the Common Dreams/ProPublica docu-article continues with the drama
expanding to South Dakota and Texas with similar problems from uranium mining –
states being in control of the situation and the EPA making exceptions to
industry regulations – because.
Changing of regulations to
fit industry demands – exactly what ALEC is asking for in their new report sent
to ALEC legislators. When in fact –
doing so – has ALREADY been shown to be disastrous across the US.
When are we going to wake up
and say no more to this disastrous destruction of our commons – our water – by
oil and mining exploration.
But the story doesn’t stop
there – it didn’t take me long to find more examples of problems caused by
uranium mining –
Here are a couple of snips
from an article that looks at the human tragedy of uranium mining.
June 15, 2010 by Jen Jackson
Here
in the West, uranium mining continues its wobbly resurgence.
In
2003, a time of cheap oil, there were only 321 uranium miners working in the
West, producing 779 tons of uranium that year. In 2008, there were over 1,500,
who produced about 1,500 tons.
If
uranium makes a strong comeback, what other such tragedies lie ahead?
And there is this entire
webpage dedicated to documenting more problems with uranium mining on the
Native American lands – with story after story of disaster.
Here
are links and descriptions of the largest nuclear mining disasters in the U.S.
The
Biggest U.S.
Uranium Mining Disasters
The snips from this article
not only look at the possible disaster to our greatest natural resource – but
also note the danger of the transport of uranium, once it is mined.
By
Klee Benally
Global
Research, March 14, 2010
Impending
Environmental Disaster: Uranium Mining Begins Near Grand
Canyon
Grand Canyon, AZ — In defiance of legal challenges
and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started
mining uranium on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been operating since December
2009.
Denison plans on extracting 335 tons of uranium ore per day
out of the “Arizona 1 Mine”, which is set to operate four days per week. The
hazardous ore will be hauled by truck more than 300 miles through towns and
communities to the company’s White Mesa mill located near Blanding, Utah.
And even though the article
above was written in 2010, a year later another article pops up noting the
“disastrous pollution” in the “West” - that ALEC was touting earlier as “friendly
to mining” – caused by uranium mining and detailing the threat to the Grand
Canyon, the Colorado river and DRINKING WATER in the “West”.
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Uranium
mining has left a legacy of disastrous pollution in the West, and now mining
poses a risk to the Grand Canyon — one of our
greatest national parks. Thousands of new mining claims threaten to destroy the
canyon’s stunning landscape and pollute the Colorado River — a major source of
drinking water for Nevada — according to a report released today by Environment
Nevada entitled “Grand Canyon at Risk: Uranium Mining Doesn't Belong Near Our
National Treasures.”
Why – why is this becoming an
issue?
WHY?
Currently
there are 104 nuclear reactors in the United
States which supply 20% of the U.S.’s electricity. In January the
Obama administration approved a $54 billion dollar taxpayer loan in a guarantee
program for new nuclear reactor construction, three times what Bush previously
promised in 2005.
And the ALEC spiral of
destruction seems to have come full circle from their announcement at the beginning of this entry - with that last snip about nuclear
reactors..
In Minnesota
In Minnesota the biggest proponents in the past
few years for more nuclear energy were ALEC members Amy Koch and Joyce Peppin.
ALEC members pushing for more
nuclear energy – now, a new ALEC report pushing deregulation of uranium for
nuclear energy plants.
Do you see the connection
folks????
No?
Then let’s try this one - - -
- - - - - -
In Virginia
SENATE
JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 100
Offered
January 9, 2008
Prefiled
January 9, 2008
Establishing
a joint subcommittee to study nuclear power within the Commonwealth. Report.
----------
Patrons--
Cuccinelli, Newman and Wagner
In
conducting its study, the joint subcommittee shall (i) address all aspects of
the production of nuclear power, including the mining of uranium the impact of
the new nuclear plants on electricity rates; (ii) examine the economic
development potential of nuclear power; (iii) consider whether the General
Assembly should take action to support the development of additional nuclear
power facilities in the Commonwealth; and (v) examine the advisability of
permitting the mining of uranium for use within the Commonwealth in the
generation of power.
ALL ALEC members – ALL
pushing for more nuclear AND uranium mining
Coincidence – hell no!
Especially when you consider
that in the new ALEC report it notes:
One
such state that could stand to benefit from such mining is Virginia, which has had a moratorium on
uranium mining for over thirty years.
Dig It!'s research finds that if the moratorium was lifted, Virginia would see an
increase in state GSP of $7 billion and an increase in state revenue by $500
million.
And the Heartland synopsis
(noted above) of the new ALEC report goes on to state:
Research
suggests that by implementing a de facto ban on uranium mining, Virginia is missing out
on $7 billion worth of economic development, an increase in person-year
employment by 1,900 per year, and $500 million of tax revenue.
Look out Virginia!!!
If the Grand
Canyon isn’t sacrosanct
to ALEC legislators
– your state sure as
hell isn’t.
UPDATE
UPDATE
UPDATE
From Heartland
January 07, 2013
The Virginia Coal and Energy
Commission today voted 11-2 (with three abstentions) to lift the 31-year-old
moratorium on mining for uranium, a recommendation limited only to Pittsylvania
County and subject to approval by the
General Assembly.
The vote came three days after The Heartland Institute released and
circulated heavily in Virginia a new policy study titled Uranium Mining in
Virginia: Environmental and Safety Considerations.
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